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LUNA music essentials...

for the week of 07 APRIL 2017

>FATHER JOHN MISTY - PURE COMEDY (colored vinyl edition with poster, slipcase, and more!) 2-LP Set (Sub Pop) Out 07 APRIL 2017Father John Misty is the brainchild of singer-songwriter Josh Tillman. Tillman has released two widely acclaimed albums – Fear Fun (2012) and I Love You, Honeybear (2015) – and the recent “Real Love Baby” single as Father John Misty, and recently contributed to songs by Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, and Kid Cudi. Pure Comedy, his third album, is a complex, often sardonic, and, equally often, touching meditation on the confounding folly of modern humanity. “Joshua Michael Tillman, a.k.a. sentient-thinking emoji Father John Misty, recently performed two songs on Saturday Night Live that questioned two of the bedrocks of Western civilization: entertainment and religion. ‘Total Entertainment Forever’ and ‘Pure Comedy,’ both from Pure Comedy, are thought-provoking, tongue-in-cheek criticisms of societal opiates. Given the state of American political discourse right now, Tillman's booking on late night's premier stage — which typically hosts musicians much more popular than the Los Angeles-based songwriter — was a clear message from the SNL staff bookers.” – NPR

This editions comes with *colored vinyl with poster, slipcase, and more!*

>The New Pornographers – Whiteout Conditions CD/LP (Concord)“Cohesive.” It's a word New Pornographers founder A.C. Newman still sounds a little bit surprised to say as he describes the band's seventh album, Whiteout Conditions. It's a quality that you wouldn't necessarily intuitively associate with a so-called supergroup that, by its very collective nature, seems bound to have a good deal of stylistic variance built into the formula (or lack of it). Can an outfit built on the appeal of multiple frontmen and frontwomen develop a signature sound after all? Maybe, and maybe better late than never. “On other records,” says Newman, “it felt like sometimes it was very clear: oh, this is a fast one with me singing, and then the next would be a slow song with Neko (Case) singing. And I've always liked that in a White Album kind of way - being a band that just does whatever the hell they want from track to track. But when we did Brill Bruisers (the band's previous album, released in 2014), it was the first time where I thought: Let's try to make a cohesive record. Let’s try to give it a sound and see how focused we can make it. And on this record, I think we went a lot farther down that road.” [Limited white color vinyl pressing also available.]

>Arca – Arca CD (XL)Arca is the first to feature the Venezuela-born, London-based producer’s untreated singing voice. He sings in Spanish – the language of his childhood home, Venezuela. It stands as a defiant, delicate statement of intent, and cements his position as one of this turbulent decade’s defining musicians. Previous work has incorporated snatches of song and Arca’s rapping, but on Arca, his voice is front-and-center on eight of the album’s 13 tracks. [Vinyl edition due May 5.]

>Cold War Kids – LA Divine CD/LP (Capitol)On their sixth album LA Divine, Cold War Kids pay tribute to Los Angeles and all its strange glory. The follow-up to 2014's Hold My Home, Cold War Kids’ latest is slightly tongue-in-cheek in its title. “In many ways LA is the least divine city, the most hedonistic and irreverent and disconnected from history,” says Cold War Kids singer/guitarist/pianist Nathan Willett. Still, LA Divine embodies the Long Beach-bred band's endless fascination with their adopted hometown. “LA's so massive, I feel like I'm always finding something new in it,” says bassist Matt Maust. “It's an incredibly weird place, and I'm happy to have made a record that totally honors that weirdness.” With its sonic palette inspired by everything from Frank Ocean's Blonde to Florence & The Machine to Alabama Shakes, LA Divine merges artful, hook-minded production with Cold War Kids' classic post-punk grit. And in his lyrics, Willett offers both raw vulnerability and layered complexity, bringing his heart-on-sleeve sensibilities to songs exploring long-lasting love. [Limited purple color vinyl pressing also available.]

>Joey Bada$$ - All-AmeriKKKan Bada$$ CD/LP+MP3 (Cinematic Music Group)The sophomore album from the Brooklyn emcee features guest appearances by ScHoolboy Q, J. Cole, Styles P, Meechy Darko Flatbush Zombies and members the Pro Era crew. A mix of indie and street, rapper Joey Bada$$ rose to fame by releasing mixtapes and joining the hip-hop collective Pro Era with fellow MC Capital Steez. Born in the East Flatbush section of Brooklyn, Joey began performing under the name JayOhVee, but changed it to Joey Bada$$ before the Pro Era crew signed to the Cinematic Music label in 2012. “With his sophomore album, a new sound and a clearer outlook on the problems of the world around him, Joey Bada$$ is ready for the next level. All-AmeriKKKan Bada$$ addresses social conflict with an astuteness that recalls J. Cole and Kendrick Lamar, two rappers who also broke through half a decade ago. Songs like the ironically-titled lead single ‘Land Of The Free,’ defiantly hopeful “For My People’ and the call to arms of album-closer ‘AmeriKKKan Idol’ straddle the line between justified anger and practical resistance, laying out a world view that is more balanced than reactionary.” – Billboard

>Wire – Silver/Lead CD/LP (Pink Flag)Silver/Lead is the fifteenth studio album from musical pioneers Wire. It arrives on the 40th anniversary of their debut performance. Yet it's about as far from nostalgia as you could get. This is the sound of a uniquely addictive 21st century psychedelic post-punk. Colin Newman and Matt Simms's guitar work is alternately jagged and luminous, while bassist Graham Lewis's ear-catching lyrics are vivid yet oblique. Meanwhile, drummer Robert Grey provides a virtual masterclass in percussive minimalism.

>Gonjasufi – Mandela Effect CD/LP (Warp)A versatile collection of remixes, covers and original music from Gonjasufi and his people. It's a scientific concept of false memories compounding upon themselves, creating false truths. The term was coined after a collective 'misremembering' of Nelson Mandela's death in prison in the 1980's. Mandela Effect features contributions from the likes of Shabazz Palaces, Daddy G of Massive Attack, Anna Wise, Moor Mother, Innsyter, Ras G, Perera Elsewhere and a slew of his San Diego brethren.

>San Fermin – Belong CD/2xLP (Downtown)San Fermin's third studio album marks a shift in songwriting perspective for bandleader Ellis Ludwig-Leone. Produced by Ludwig-Leone and brought to life by his fellow performers – lead vocalists Charlene Kaye and Allen Tate, trumpet player John Brandon, saxophonist Stephen Chen, violinist Rebekah Durham, drummer Michael Hanf, and guitarists Tyler McDiarmid and Aki Ishiguro – Belong unfolds in warm, intoxicating textures that both contrast and intensify that sense of unrest.

>Clark – Death Peak CD/LP (Warp)Sixteen years since his debut and eight albums later, a now rightly considered cornerstone of Warp's core artist base, Clark, lines up what is sure to amount to his most cutting edge and immaculately scored vision of varied dancefloor dynamics and richly-ground techno hydraulics with the high-rise hypnotics that make up Death Peak. Having first appeared way back in 2001 with the brain-hammering Clarence Park album, Chris Clark (as he was then known) instantly slotted in perfectly with both the old and new artists that made up the cutting-edge Warp vanguard. While his music, at times reflected a strong influence bled in from the caustic industrial puzzles of Autechre and the analogue post-jungle crunch of AFX and Squarepusher, Clark melted these influences down into a concrete vat that carried a strong influence of out and out techno. Having had the album title in his head since summer last year, Death Peak sounds a lot like you might imagine it would, albeit in your wildest hopes and dreams, given its serious title. Truly an incredible and starkly visceral series of recordings, Clark appears to take a strong influence from the battered 12”s of mid- ‘90s warehouse techno and drum & bass that litter so many of our collections, yet mixes them with the ethereal electronics and library record exploration previously unheard from him.